Made short work out of this one today. I needed to remove the toolbox, bedliner, sick-on decals and finally get at the rust in the wheel wells.
The toolbox has been on this thing since 1988 -- I put it on a week after I took delivery. Amazing that it still looks good and hasn't cracked or sagged. It, along with the bedliner were purchased at the local Montgomery Ward auto center at the time. Ahh, the good old days!!
Amazing what blows in under the liner in three decades -- LOL
One of the mounting holes for the box is rusted. I guess I didn't use enough silicone to keep the moisture out. The other three points were perfect.
Decals come off easy with a good heat gun -- even baked on and hardened stuff like mine.
Finally I was able to get the car into the garage and put it up jack stands to tackle the rust on the right-hand side. Pretty bad on one the section where the inner fender meets the floor pan.
The inner fender on the other hand looks great -- that fender liner sure did its job.
Bottom part of the floor pan and the fender well is totally rusted through
Just hitting it with a body hammer made a huge mess -- Rust and more Rust!!!
I cut out the most offending area and made a new 18ga steel patch.
Tacked the patch in, then stitch welded it up and went on my way -- no grinding or blending. Just the patch and the welds; that's good enough for this Earl Scheib job.
I put some self etching primer on it and a few coats of black paint, then after it's dried overnight, I'll throw on a thick coat of sealer and undercoat.
The whole patch job took two-and-a-half hours -- DONE. Tomorrow I'll patch up the other side.
Just call me Earl Scheib Junior!! -- Earl used to advertise that he'd give you $10 free metalwork with a paint job. I guess this metalwork is worth about $10 a side. -- LOL